


Fear of Flying

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: Everything After [9]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Drama, F/M, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-18
Updated: 2012-02-18
Packaged: 2017-10-31 09:08:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/342326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fake it till you make it…it was the 13th step.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fear of Flying

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written for Jayne Atkinson’s birthday today. Like last year, kosmickway gave me the prompt. She said black leather jacket. This is also #9 in the Everything After series, which follows Erin’s canon line (to a point) following Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.

She couldn’t hide her smile when she opened the door for him on Saturday afternoon. He went to speak but Erin held up her hand. She was on the phone so he walked in and closed the door.

“I'm hanging out with a friend so no, honey, I won't be alone on my birthday. I promise.”

“Make sure you have lots of birthday cake.” MK replied.

“Not too much.” Erin said. “Things don’t come off these hips like they used to.” she laughed at her own joke. “I better go now. Have a great weekend and I hope to see you on Wednesday.”

“I’ll be there.” 

“Good. See you later.”

“Happy birthday Mom.”

“Thanks sweetie. Tell Nora and Ted that I love them. I love you too MK.”

“Love you, bye.”

Erin hung up her cell phone and took a deep breath. She didn’t want to cry, she’d surely done enough of that to last a lifetime. And though these would've been tears of joy and not sorrow, Erin was afraid if she started she might not stop. Today wasn’t about tears, it was about happiness. So she turned to Dave and put on her best smile. Fake it till you make it…it was the 13th step.

“Hello, Agent Rossi.”

“Hello Agent Strauss.” He was smiling too. “Does the birthday girl want her kisses now or later?”

She walked into his arms; starting with a hug was a good plan. Dave held her close and Erin inhaled the scent of him. She hugged him tighter and he sang to her.

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you; happy birthday dear Erin, happy birthday to you.”

“And many more.” She sang back, kissing him.

“So…what kind of day do you want to have?”

“I have no idea. I wanna have some fun today. I hate that I can't be with my kids; it'll be my first sober birthday in some time.”

“I see you talked to Mary Kate.” Dave said.

“Yeah,” Erin smiled as she nodded. “Nora and Ted called to sing to me. Then we talked for a little while and MK said she wanted to talk to me. I was glad to hear from her. She still hasn’t come for a weekend and her Wednesday dinners are sporadic. But we’re trying…we’re all trying. I don’t want to try today. I just wanna be.”

“I can be. I'm good at being.”

“Is there anything you're not good at?” she asked.

“No.” Dave smirked. “OK, OK, here's one thing I'm bad at. Are you ready?”

“Give it to me.”

“I suck at playing the guitar. For three months when I was 15 a friend of mine wanted to start a band. We thought it would be a good way to meet more girls. We called ourselves The Human Stain.”

“David, you should've known you were destined for greatness when you named your nonexistent band after a Roth novel.”

“Well that novel came out in 2000 so maybe Roth stole it from us. Joey Matrioni, our supposed bass player said he saw the term it in Life Magazine and it sounded cool. So we went for it. Except I was horrible at every instrument I tried. Drums were bearable but I wanted to play guitar. I wanted to be Keith Richards. It just wasn’t meant to be I guess.”

“Somehow you still ended up with thousands of adoring groupies.” Erin laughed.

“Well I don’t like to brag…” 

“What's in the bag, Rossi?” now it was Erin’s turn to smirk.

“Aha,” he held up the large paper shopping bag. “We get to the presents.”

“Plural?” damn, she couldn’t seem to stop smiling with him. The other shoe had to drop soon so all Erin could hope for is that it wasn’t too big and it didn’t land smack in the middle of her skull. “I have presents?”

“Yes. Here,” Dave took a box from the bag. “Happy birthday.”

“Oh wow, this is such gorgeous wrapping paper. How much did you pay to have this done?”

“Woman, I’ll have you know I did it myself. David Rossi is a man of many, many talents.”

“Instruments not being one of them?”

“Instruments not being any of them.” Dave replied. “Open it.”

Erin went over to the dining room table. She hardly wanted to rip the paper off, it really was beautiful. But she tore it off and saw the Nordstrom’s box. It didn’t surprise her it was from a good store…David had excellent taste. She opened the box and pulled out the jacket.

“Oh David, I love it.”

“You do?”

“Yes.” She grinned as she slipped on the leather jacket. 

Erin walked into the hallway and opened the closet door. There was a full length mirror there and she looked at herself. Knowing she and Dave would be spending the late afternoon and evening out, Erin was in full blown casual dress. She was surprised Dave hadn't mentioned it but he’d seen her in so many ways since they’d gotten together again. 

Today it was dark rinse jeans, a powder pink, ribbed, v-neck sweater trimmed in red and pink Chucks. The Chucks had been a Ted thing. He assured his mother, who usually only wore sneakers to exercise, that Chucks were the best thing for feet since socks. Erin was a full convert.

“I think I look damn good in leather.” Erin turned away from the mirror and looked at Dave. “What do you think?”

“You're beautiful.”

“Well I love the gift, thank you.”

She came and gave him a kiss. Dave reached into the bag again.

“I hope you didn’t think we were done.”

“I was actually hoping that you didn’t go overboard.”

“Me? That’s not the kind of thing I usually do.”

Erin moved away from him. Dave laughed, asking what she was doing.

“I'm moving so the lightning doesn’t hit me.”

“Haha, so funny you are. Happy birthday.” 

She took the box and opened it. The diamond tennis bracelet and earrings shone in the light of her living room. Erin wanted to say something; she didn’t quite know what, but was speechless. This wasn’t St. Monica, one of her most treasured gifts. 

This was something else. Jewelry was a significant step in a relationship. Diamonds were a big deal. She wasn’t entirely sure she could handle a big deal right now.

“I don’t know what to say.” Well, honesty was good.

“You don’t have to say anything.” Dave said. “I just saw them and wanted you to have them. It’s your birthday, Erin; no ulterior motives or reciprocity expected. Today is all about you and no one else.”

“What's the reciprocity on diamonds these days?” she asked.

“It's still sex.”

“OK, just checking.” Erin put the box down on the dining room table. “I'm ready to go out and have a good time.”

“Then off we go.” Dave held out his arm and Erin took it. 

They walked over to the door, where Erin grabbed her purse off the side table. Dave was still holding the shopping bag.

“Are we taking the bag with us?” she asked as they walked out of the condo. She locked the door behind them.

“The last part of your gift is in here. I have to give it to you downstairs.”

“Why?”

“You're quite a curious creature, Erin Strauss.”

“I've been called worse in my time.”

Dave smiled as he hit the down button on the elevator. “I think you’ve been called worse by me.”

“You're right…bastard.”

They both laughed as they got into the elevator. Erin pushed the lobby button; they rode down in virtual silence. Dave leaned on the wall of the elevator and held Erin’s hand.

“What's in the bag, David?”

“You’ll see. Good things come to those who wait.”

Erin didn’t have a lot of patience but she didn’t have a choice. They walked off the elevator when it stopped in the lobby. Once outside Dave led Erin over to a motorcycle parked a few feet from the entrance of The Lafayette at Penn Quarters. They were on 6th Avenue and D, just about a mile from the White House. The area was bustling as always and Erin looked at the bike.

“Please don’t tell me this is for me.” she said. “I don’t even know how to ride a bike.”

“The bike is mine. This is for you.” he reached into the bag, pushing aside tissue paper, and pulled out a helmet. When he handed it to Erin he folded the bag and put it in a tiny compartment under the seat of the bike.

“Oh wow; I'm riding on a motorcycle?”

“This isn’t just any motorcycle, baby. This is the [2010 Harley Davidson Softail Fatboy in Vivid Black](http://www.harley-davidson.com/en_US/Content/Pages/2011-Motorcycles/fat-boy.html#/pnw). The color is specially made for law enforcement personnel only. We only ride if you want to…and I really hope you want to because this is the only transportation I brought with me today.”

Erin held a fire engine red motorcycle helmet in her hands. She’d never held one before in her life and had only seen them on TV or speeding past her on the street. She put it on, not entirely sure that it wouldn’t make her claustrophobic.

“This isn’t so bad.” She said.

“What?” Dave flipped the visor up.

“I said this isn’t so bad. Let’s go.”

“Seriously?” he was a little surprised.

“Seriously.” Erin nodded. “You only live once, David. I said I wanted to have fun today; this is gonna be fun.”

“Damn skippy.”

He climbed onto the bike and Erin climbed on behind him. She didn’t even know Dave had a motorcycle. She knew he had a truck and an overpriced, sexy Italian sports car, but this was another side of him. She liked it. 

“What do I do?” Erin asked.

“Hold onto me, not too tightly. You're not going to fall off I promise. Just hold on, put your visor down, and enjoy the ride. Enjoy the rush, Erin.”

“I'm feeling the rush already and we haven’t even gone anywhere. Oh my God, I'm on the back of a motorcycle. We’re going to have to take a picture…the kids are never going to believe this.”

Dave pulled his iPhone from his hip. He took three snapshots of them after Erin took her helmet off. She put it back on as he was revving the engine. She held him a little tighter as it roared and then purred.

“That sounds really sexy.” she said as he kicked up the stand. “Of course you probably can't hear me with these fishbowls on our heads.”

“I can hear you; and safety first. I'm a wild child but I gotta obey the law. I also have to keep you safe.”

“I feel pretty safe right now. Where are you taking me anyway?”

“Do you really care? We’re on a Harley and we have the rest of the day ahead of us.”

As a matter of fact, Erin didn’t give a damn. As he pulled out into the traffic and she felt the wind whipping past her, it felt like she was flying. It was a high that might be addictive but wouldn’t get her into as much trouble as the last one did. As Erin gripped Dave just a little tighter, she rethought that. The birthday girl was in a whole lot of trouble. And she planned to enjoy every minute of it.

***


End file.
